ment of labour. * I feel justified in saying, that for more than fifty years our generous patron has daily devoted to his favourite studies of politics and jurisprudence more than double that number of hours. I trust, it will not be deemed an intrusion, if upon this occasion I venture to speak somewhat of the public services of this distinguished lawyer, which are already matter of notoriety, and, considering his age and character, may almost be deemed matter of history. It is now more than fifty years since Mr. Dane first came to the bar, and brought to its practice his varied stores of knowledge. He was almost immediately engaged in the duties of legislation in this, his native State; and to him we are chiefly indebted for the first general revisal of our Provincial Statutes, as well as for other improvements in our code of positive law. At the distance of thirty years, he was again called upon by the voice of the legislature to a similar duty; and to him, in a great measure, we owe the valuable collection of our Colonial and Provincial Statutes, which now adorns our libraries. In the intermediate period he served many years in the Continental Congress during some of its most difficult operations, and there maintained a high reputation for sound judgment, and an inflexible adherence to the best principles of political polity. His advancement to public life was always unsought for by himself; and his retirement from it has always * Teignmouth's Life of Sir William Jones, p. 257. "Six hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, Ten to the world allot, and all to Heaven." See also, Law of Bailments, p. 122, 123. been matter of public regret. To him belongs the glory of the formation of the celebrated Ordinance of 1787, which constitutes the fundamental law of the states northwest of the Ohio. It is a monument of political wisdom, and sententious skilfulness of expression. It was adopted unanimously by Congress, according to his original draught, with scarcely the alteration of a single word. After his retirement from public life, he devoted himself with matchless assiduity to the duties of the bar; and gradually arriving to the first rank, he became the guide, the friend, and the father of the profession in his own county. In the midst of an extensive practice, he found leisure to compile his Digest and Abridgment of American Law, which, in eight large octavo volumes, comprehends a general survey of all our jurisprudence, and attests the depth of his learning, his unwearied industry, and his independent, but cautious judgment. It is now some years since he bade farewell to the bar, but not to his favourite studies. In contemplating his professional character one is perpetually reminded of the fine portrait of Lord Chief Justice Rolle, drawn by Lord Hale, in his preface to Rolle's Abridgment of the Law, which has so close a resemblance, that it seems another, and the same. "He argued frequently and pertinently," says Lord Hale; "his arguments were fitted to prove and evince, not for ostentation; plain, yet learned; short, if the nature of the business permit * At this very moment there is in the press a ninth supplementary volume by Mr. Dane to his Digest and Abridgment, which contains a full abstract of thirty volumes of Reports published since his original work. ted, yet perspicuous. His words few, but significant and weighty. His skill, judgment, and advice in points of law and pleading were sound and excellent. In short, he was a person of great learning and experience in the common law, profound judgment, singular prudence, great moderation, justice, and integrity." Mr. Dane has nobly dedicated the whole proceeds of his great work to the establishment of this professorship; and thus has become to our parent University, in the highest sense, the American Viner. I am but too sensible, that here the parallel must stop; and that to pursue it farther would cover with humiliation him, who now addresses you. To the liberal donation of Mr. Viner the world is indebted for the splendid Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone, a work of such singular exactness and perspicacity, of such finished purity and propriety of style, and of such varied research, and learned disquisition, and constitutional accuracy, that as a text-book it probably stands unrivalled in the literature of any other language, and is now studied as a classic in America, as well as in England. Perhaps when we are gathered in the dust, some future Blackstone, nursed and reared in this school, may arise, and by a similar achievement blend his own immortality with the fame of the Founder. Would to God, that it may be so! And thus this fair seat of science become the pride of the law, as it now is the pride of the literature of our country. When we look around us, and consider, how much has been done by this University for the glory and safety of the Commonwealth; when we recollect, how many distinguished men have been nourished in her bosom, and warmed by her bounty, and cheered by her praise ;* it is impossible to suppress the wish, the earnest wish, that this last triumph may yet crown her matron dignity. What consolation could be more affecting to her grateful children, than that in these academical shades their should arise a temple, sacred to the majesty of the law, where our future orators, and jurists, and judges, and statesmen, might mature their genius, and deepen their learning, and purify their ambition. Where future generations may approach, and read the wisdom of the law, as it is personified in the glowing sketch of Algernon Sidney. "It is void of desire and fear, lust and anger. It is mens sine affectu, written reason, retaining some measure of the divine perfection. It does not enjoin that, which pleases a weak, frail man; but without any regard to persons, commands that, which is good, and punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, high or low. It is deaf, inexorable, inflexible." t * The members delegated from Massachusetts to serve in the Revolutionary Congress between 1774 and 1789, (when the new Constitution was adopted,) were in number twenty-one. Of these seventeen were educated in Harvard University. Their names are as follows: Samuel Adams, Thomas Cushing, John Hancock, John Adams, Robert T. Paine, Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, John Lowell, Samuel Osgood, Jonathan Jackson, Artemas Ward, George Partridge, Rufus King, James Lovell, Samuel A. Otis, George Thatcher, and Nathan Dane. Mr. Dane is the only survivor. + Works of Algernon Sidney, sect. 15, p. 69. |